# Contractor Walks Away With $28K | St. Louis News Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/st-louis-news-today-2-min-news-the-daily-news-now-7563237/contractor-walks-away-with-28k-st-louis-news Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/st-louis-news-today-2-min-news-the-daily-news-now-7563237/contractor-walks-away-with-28k-st-louis-news.md Podcast: [St. Louis News Today | 2 Min News | The Daily News Now!](https://stenobird.com/podcast/st-louis-news-today-2-min-news-the-daily-news-now-7563237) Published: 2026-07-11T22:19:42+00:00 Episode link: https://sources.thednn.ai/6fa3208b9c686e0b Audio file: https://api.fastcast.ai/audio/5fb08840-7174-4756-8f47-f6038317785e.mp3 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/st-louis-news-today-2-min-news-the-daily-news-now-7563237/episodes/contractor-walks-away-with-28k-st-louis-news Duration seconds: 82 ## Resource A St. Charles contractor, Stephen Paul Smith, faces felony theft charges after allegedly pocketing $28,566 from homeowners for a kitchen remodel that never began. The homeowners paid in August 2025, only to find Smith shuttering his business in February 2026 with no work done and no money returned. Police were called in March, and Smith admitted he “never intended to victimize” them—but the damage is done. As of this week, the charge was filed, and the homeowners still await any compensation. Smith is scheduled for a court appearance on August 26, 2026. Listen in comfort: Get a discount on a Soli Pillow: http://solipillow.com/discount/dnn. Advertise on DNN: advertise@thednn.ai This is an automated, high-level news summary based on public reporting. Report issues to feedback@thednn.ai. View sources & latest updates: https://sources.thednn.ai/6fa3208b9c686e0b ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/st-louis-news-today-2-min-news-the-daily-news-now-7563237/episodes/contractor-walks-away-with-28k-st-louis-news/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/st-louis-news-today-2-min-news-the-daily-news-now-7563237/contractor-walks-away-with-28k-st-louis-news.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.